Annaliese and Trevor

Annaliese and Trevor love a bit of vintage – play some jazz and these two will be swinging dancing the night away. So their mission was to bring a little jazz to Nar Nar Goon and combined with Trevor’s graphic design skills, their Summer garden wedding (captured by Fi Mims Photography) turned out to be a festival of colour and dancing!

Annaliese tells the story of how they met. “I (Annaliese) made a last minute trip to Perth for a university placement, and stayed with a friend of a friend who I met through the swing dancing community. Apparently he decided on the first night that I was a perfect match for Trevor & spent the next few weeks trying to set us up & recruiting other friends to do the same! It worked, & we went on our first date a week before I left to go to Nepal for a month. We spent the next 18 months travelling between Melbourne & Perth to visit each other, then I moved to Perth and we lived happily ever after! ”

I love that Trevor put isi career as a graphic designer to good use! Annaliese remarking, “Trevor is a graphic designer, so he did all the invites, signage, save the dates & coasters.”

Annaliese wore an elegant halter neck gown from Collette Dinnigan. Her hair and makeup, and that of her bridesmaids (who wore emerald green dresses from Modcloth) was done by her cousin Bridget and workmate Pam.

Annaliese walked down the aisle to, “Jesu, Joy of Mans Desiring by Bach – instrumental version (My grandparents had the same song in the church down the road many years prior).”

Annaliese and Trevor married in Annaliese’s parents backyard, Annaliese remembering, “I grew up in that house, and Dad built it with his own hands, doing all of the stone work & landscaping (with much help from other family members). My extended family are very strongly rooted in this town, and have lived there for over 60 years, so it seemed natural to get married there. And the setting is beautiful! ”

The day was all about family pitching in, Annaliese remarking, “My family did a massive amount of gardening, painting, new paving, stage creation and many other jobs at many working bees running up to the day, and then cleared out the hall at the end!”

Of their photographer, Annaliese says, “Fi Mims came highly recommended by several friends, and we loved her portfolio, especially her ability to capture the less posed moments (which helps when the bride is awful at posing for photos). Her previous life as a swing dancer meant that she had a great understanding of vintage culture & an ability to get some great dancing pictures!”

” We had beautiful sunny weather for the ceremony, and then the rain came in just when it was time to leave for the reception. We were really lucky with that one.”

“Even the amazing vintage cars were sourced by my Dad, via my uncle’s neighbour’s recommendation that ‘there’s a guy down the road with old cars’. We hadn’t seen the cars before the day, so they were a great surprise.”

The couple held their reception at Nar Nar Goon Soldiers Memorial Hall (03) 5942 5046. Annaliese noting, “We needed somewhere big enough for 200 people, a band, and a decent dance floor which was available at 6 months notice. It was also very close to the ceremony location, and meant we could put a cow on the invites!”

Paper lanterns in blue, white, green and orange decorated the reception, Annaliese remembering, “The lanterns I found on eBay & were strung up by the best man, our brother in law and many helpers. Mum & I sourced all the hire furniture and other bits & pieces like milk bottles from multiple vendors.”

Trevor’s designed stationery carried right through to the reception, Annaliese telling. “Trevor did a poster series depicting our story which was up at the reception & made us commemorative tea towels as bombonierre”. Even the coasters were designed by the groom.

“Trevor’s sister decorated the wedding cake, which was baked by my cousin Julia & my Nonna.”

The first dance, was of course, swing dancing played to a tune by the couple’s favourite band, “We’ve both been swing dancing for many years, and our favourite Perth band (Adam Hall & the Velvet Playboys) were able to come & play, so we requested the jazz classic ‘Exactly like you’ which they learned especially for us. Many of our friends and family had never seen us dance before, so it was great for them to finally see what we’d been doing all this time! ”

Congratulations on your marriage Annaliese and Trevor! Thank you for sharing your day with us! Thank you also to Fi Mims Photography for sharing today’s celebration with us!